Food Giants Tap Startups to Unlock Africa’s Vast Informal Market

Guinness Nigeria Plc and other consumer-goods giants are turning to startups to crack Africa’s vast informal retail market.

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has acquired a stake in OmniRetail Inc., which provides inventory management and payments service through a mobile platform. The startup connects 130 manufacturers including Guinness, CHI Ltd. and Dufil Prima Foods Plc, along with 14 banks and logistics providers, to 150,000 mom-and-pop stores in Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation — as well as informal vendors in Ghana and Ivory Coast.